The Kitsune's Eye
by Leapingspirit
Summary: A friend returns, and prooves that two souls can infact be on one path. Shadow is back, and he has to help Naruto with a new blood line that will soon surface. The follow up the the Shadow and Naruto saga. R&R Rated T NaruHina and other parings.
1. Prolouge

The Kitsune's Eye 

Ages: Rookie 9 and Gaara: 23; Team Gai and Kankuro: 24; Temari: 25

I own nothing.

Prolouge

Deep down in the center of the Earth, deeper than any man or beast has gone before, was a firey place. This firey place was the place where all demons, good or bad, and all humans that had committed some form of tretchery against the Lord above, went. It was a place where no one wanted to go.

But, in the distance of this firey pit, there was said to be an exit. To find that exit, you had to be brave or stupid enough to venture there, for it is in the deepest reaches of said firey pit. That is where our story begins.

A large silouette was leaping from stone pillar to stone pillar, climbing higher and higher. Each stone pillar was no bigger around than a grown man's hands put side by side, but the spirit seemed to be doing just fine. It had a long bushy tail, and large paws. Glowing red eyes could be seen through the smoke of the firey pit, gleaming with determination. The one thing that seemed to make the spirit stand out, were the dragon like wings that were coming out of its back. They seemed to be helping the spirit climb, flapping rythmaticly.

Everytime the spirit landed on another stone pillar, it gave out a grunt, as though it was in some sort of pain. There was blood oozing from its large paws and its jaws were dripping with saliva and blood. Every spirit that came to the firey pit was given some sort of punishment, whether it was to be whipped mercilessly, or torn limb from limb by Hellbats. This spririt's punishment was to walk on sebon needles and have its tounge clawed by a Hellcat.

The one thought that was going through the spirit's head was, _'Have to get out, have to help them...' _as it climbed. It had been climbing for years, and was slowly getting closer to the surface. When it broke through, it would get its own body back, and be able to live like it had.

It had been ten years since it had come to this place, and it was not going to spend another day in the firey pit. It saw a bright white light up ahead, and started to get its hopes back, speeding up as much as its tired legs would let it.

--------------In the surface world------------

A tall, young blonde man and a raven haired young woman about half a head shorter walked side by side through the forest. A seven year old raven haired boy ran circles around them, laughing merrily, and tugging on the blonde man's robe.

The blond man was Hokage of Konahakure, Rokudaime to be precice. The woman walking beside him was an ANBU and a talented medic, specializing in making medical creams.

Each had fox tails and ears the same color of their hair, the blonde man having ten, the woman six, and the boy two. It had originaly been only the man that had the tails and ears, but when he 'mated' in the demon species words with the woman, the kitsune blood that he possesed changed the woman's DNA, so now she was a half-demon like her husband.

The blonde man smiled down at his son, his bright blue eyes twinkling kindly, and the woman gazed ahead, her pale eyes filled with happyness. Their son had the same blue eyes as his father, but when he activated his bloodline, the changed to the same pale lavendar as his mother.

The raven haired boy ran on ahead, his father's eyes following him, to make sure he stays out of trouble. "Atsuko (kind child)! Don't go too far." he called out.

"I won't Papa!" the boy, now named as Atsuko, called back. He laughed and continued running.

"I'll never understand that boy." sighed the blonde man.

"Naruto-kun, maybe if you spent time with him, you would. You know, take him to your office now and then, take him out for ramen. He loves you, but you need to spend more time with him, he _is_ your son, after all." the raven haired woman said gently to the blonde man, named as Naruto.

Naruto looked down at his wife, and smiled. "I know Hinata-chan, but my duties as Hokage get in the way sometimes. I know that I need to spend more time with him, and you, but sometimes I just get so busy that I don't have enough time to actualy see you more then at night, and at the dinner table." he said softly, his eyes sincere and loving.

Hinata smiled and hugged Naruto's arm tightly, sighing contently. She had a caring husband, who was also Hokage, and a beautiful son who would do anything for her. He life was perfect... almost.

Ten years ago, a very important member of their family had been lost forever. Shadow, a black kitsune, had taken his final stand against his evil cousin. He had taken both of them off the edge of a gorge and into the torent of water below.

He had gotten close to the hearts of both her, and Naruto, as well as the rest of Konoha. He would never be forgotten, in fact, Tsunade, the previous Hokage, had ordered that a golden statue be built in his honor. It was him with his unusual dragon wings spread out behind him, his legs splayed in a proud way, and his head held high (if you want to draw that, let me know in the reviews you post). It was truly a fitting posture for the black fox demon. He had been kind, but was also deadly proud, and would never back down or give up in a tough situation. But his pride was also a bad thing, he would never ask for help, or admit to a problem. He had also been a good leader, having been leader of the ancient and legendary Kitsune Clan for half of his life.

He had helped her and Naruto get together, and helped Naruto deal with being different, or a half demon. Shadow had also helped Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto's best friend and rival, get through tough times, like discovering that Itachi wasn't the one who murdered his family, but Orochmaru, and had helped him hone his new neko half-demon powers. Yes, Shadow would be in the hearts of the Konoha citizens, and even some that weren't citizens, forever.

All of a sudden, off in the distance, there was a rumble of thunder. Hinata looked up at the sky, no a single cloud. Then there was another rumble, this time a lot closer. Then a surge of heat, a blast of wind, a wave of rain, as though all the elements were being compressed together, and then...

**© Leapingspirit**


	2. Chapter 1

The Kitsune's Eye 

I own nothing.

And for those of you that havn't guessed it, Shadow was the spirit at the beginning. And if your wondering about the wings, Shadow has some a blood line that Naruto will soon get that allows him to use wings.

Chapter 1

And then... nothing. Everything was still, not a single leaf on a single tree moved. Naruto and Hinata rushed forward, in the direction of where the wind had been blowing, and where the heat seemed to be centered. Atsuko was trailing after them, asking what happened.

They skidded to a stop in a small clearing, and looked around. Naruto caught sight of a large, dark figure racing away from the clearing, heading in the direction of the village. He then scanned the clearing, and saw only a large scorch mark in the very center. Scratching his chin, the blonde pondered what this could mean.

Naruto told Hinata to take Atsuko home, and raced off in the direction of the dark figure. It didn't take him long to catch up to it, and when he did, he quickly took out a kunai and threw it at the figure. The kunai hit the figure dead center in the shoulder, making it give out a pained snarl. Naruto tackled the figure, rolling with it several times, before springing away when it clawed him on the chest. He clutched the new wound, his kitsune blood making it heal almost emeidietly.

All of a sudden, he was trown to the side, and bitten hard on the arm. He gave out a sharp cry of pain, and punched the figure on the head. It grunted and let go, springing away, facing the blonde. He heard an exclamation of, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **then **"Souma no Kou!" **and he was slammed into by two objects at a high speed four times. The blonde staggered back and glared at his attacker.

It looked like a large kitsune, but he couldn't make out its features because it stayed in the shadows. The one thing that was off about it were the dragon wings folded neatly at its sides. A bushy tail waved behind it in an almost friendly way as it looked at him. Naruto looked carefuly at its posture, and notcied that it wasn't standing in a threataning way, it was almost as though the kitsune had seen him before.

There was a yell in the distance, and the kitsune ran off into the forest. Naruto was tempted to call after it, but when Sasuke, his ANBU capitan, landed beside him, his chance was gone.

"Are you alright dobe?" asked the raven. Naruto didn't care what he was called, he hated when people called him 'Uzumaki-sama,' 'Naruto-san,' or 'Hokage-sama.' He prefered 'dobe' over any of those.

"I'm fine teme." Naruto replied bleakly.

"What happened?" asked the neko hanyou.

"I saw a figure run into the forest in the direction of the village, and ran after it. I tackled it, and it fought back. I think that it had seen me before, because when we finished fighting, it was standing in a friendly way." replied the kitsune hanyou. The two hanyous looked at each other for a moment, then started to walk in the direction of the village.

--------------With the kitsune-------------

As the kitsune continued to run, it used its tail to remove the kunai from its shoulder, and winced when its head throbbed again from when Naruto had punched it. Slowing down, it leaped into a tree and gazed out over the village.

_'Sure has changed in the ten years I've been gone.' _then it noticed the stone head next to Tsunade's on the Hokage Monument. _'Haa, looks like he finaly made Hokage! Well, you sure do have some power with you Naruto, I know that from when you attacked me.' _the kitsune let out a small burst of laughter, then started to leap from branch to branch in the direction of the village.

-------------Back with Naruto and Sasuke--------------

Naruto continued to ponder the kitsune, and was running a list of the kitusnes that he had met in his head. He only knew three that had dragon wings, and they were all dead. Then there was when all of the elements were being compressed, what had happened then.

_'Well, it could have been that strange kitsune. Yeah, that makes sense.' _he thought. Naruto sighed and shook his head, that still didn't answer how that kitsune could have known him. It could have been told about him by another kitusne, or heard stories. In any case, he hoped that he met it again so he could get some answers

He told Sasuke to go back to what he was doing, and poofed away to his home. Naruto had long ago moved out of his apartment, into his father's old mansion, that way he would have room for his family. Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox demon who used to be sealed in him(1), lived there with his girlfriend. As well as Shadow's son, Cyrus, and his wife and son. Then there was, of course, him, Hinata, and Atsuko.

Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, lived in a large apartment, next to Sasuke's. He was the capitan of another ANBU squad, while Kyuubi and Cyrus decided to stay jonin. Kyuubi's team consisted of Chika (scatter flower) Hyuuga, Neji and Tenten's daughter, Daisuke (great help) Nara, Shikamaru and Temari's son, and Hayato (falcon person) Hiroshi, the son of one of Sasuke's team mates in the ANBU. Cyrus didn't have a genin team right now, but Naruto had asked him if he wanted one, he had said that he would think about it.

When Naruto apeared in his living room, he saw Hinata sleeping on the couch, with Atsuko in her lap. They must have been watching Tv. while waiting for him. Even though Naruto hadn't gone back to the office, he had been walking for quite a while. He smiled and gently lifted Atsuko up, bringing him to his room and gently tucking him in. Then he went back in the living room, and lifted Hinata up bridal style and carried her into their room. He tucked her in gently in her side of the bed, and striped down to his boxers, and climbed into bed beside her, falling asleep quickly.

(1)They had found a way to release Kyuubi without killing Naruto.

**© Leapingspirit**


	3. Chapter 2

The Kitsune's Eye 

I own nothing.

And Naruto won't meet Shadow again until the next chappie, so be paitient. But Kyuu meets him in this one.

Hehe, Kyuubi has a dirty mouth in this one.

Chapter 2

Naruto sat at his desk in the Hokage Tower, staring at the team of genin in front of him. Kyuubi, Chika, Daisuke, and Hayato were curently waiting for their next mission. They reminded him so much of himself and his team when they were genin. Daisuke was like him, loud and hard nosed, Chika was like Sakura, a possesive fan girl, then Hayato was like Sasuke, quite and proud. And of course that meant that Kyuubi was like Kakashi, strong, a pervert, and laid back. The young Hokage smirked inwardly and started to explain a mission that he was sure was going to keep them busy.

"Now then, your next mission is to catch the Daimyo's (sp? But if not its that fat lady with the cat.) cat, Tora, again. He ran away—again—and you need to bring him back safely." _'Three... two... one...'_

"NO!!! NO, NO!!! NO WAY IN HELL!!!" screemed Daisuke. No suprise, and Naruto supressed a sigh. "Why do we have to get such boring missions?!"

"Because that's the mission that I gave you. Now leave, and this time, try to bring the damned cat back by sundown." the genin filed out and Kyuubi stayed behind breifly.

"You do relise that Daisuke has said that he wants to kill you on several occasions, right."

"I'm aware of that Kyuubi."

"Just making sure Naruto." said the crimson haired fox demon over his shoulder as he left. Naruto chuckled and turned to his crystal ball to watch the genin team. They had already located the cat—that was fast-- and were chasing after it. Then he noticed a shadowed figure in the corner of the crystal ball. He focased on it, and noticed that it was the same kitsune as the day before. Its eyes were following the cat, and Naruto raised and eyebrow as it bunched its mucles and leaped at it, successfully catching it by the scruff of the neck. The cat howled and yowled, clawing at the kitsune's muzzle. The kitsune just gave it a violent shake, and it fell limp like a kitten. Then, the kitsune deposited it in the arms of Kyuubi, who was quite supprised.

"H-how did you know how to catch the cat?" stammered Kyuubi. The kitsune barked out a reply that was translated into: 'I had to help a genin team catch it on several occations years ago, so I know the tricks of the trade.' Kyuubi quirked an eyebrow at this, but shook it off, and thanked the kitsune, who nodded and sped off into the forest.

The team of genin and Kyuubi were back in Naruto's office in no time, and poor Tora was being strangled—er, hugged—by his owner. Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing. _'Poor thing, no wonder it keeps running away.' _and Naruto could have sworn it was crying. When the cat and woman were gone, Naruto turned back to the other inhabitants in the room. Daisuke was busy telling them a story about when he pulled a prank on Naruto himself.

"Hey! Pay attention!" yelled the blonde. They turned their attention back to him, and he cleared his throught. "Now then, this one will be a little more challenging. There have been reports of a strange creature roaming around the forest, and you have to catch it, or find evidence of it, enough so that I can judge its streagth, and send out the proper ninja. This is a B-rank mission." Daisuke jumped for joy, and Chika and Hayato smacked him on the head. Daisuke was nothing like his father, Shikamaru, which was a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because it meant that he would turn out to be stronger than his father, and a bad thing because—his endless enthusiasm and energy meant that he drove everyone in the village crazy. In fact, many of the villagers called him a second Naruto.

The team filed out again, Daisuke complaining about Chika's taste in men—he had a crush on her, and she had a crush on Hayato—and Chika was retaliating by either hiting him or yelling, and Kyuubi was trying to get them to calm down, as for Hayato, he was just walking and rolling his eyes at his team mate's and sensei's actions.

-----------With the kitsune----------

The kitsune smirked when it heard that Naruto was going to have people looking for it. It had been perched on his windowseil, in a position that hid it from view, but allowed it to listen. It jumped down when Naruto turned his chair around to look out the window, and ran out into the village to give the genin and Kyuubi a wild goose chase.

It caught up to them in no time and purposefully landed on Daisuke to get him riled up. It worked, and the genin was after the kitsune as soon as he was on his feet. All of a sudden, the kitsune was stopped in its tracks. It looked down to see its shadow extended, and looked behind it to see Daisuke crouched down, his hands in the position for a shadow posession. It smirked and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A shadow clone?! How did it do that!?" cried Kyuubi. He descretly sniffed the air—his team dosen't know who and what he is—and sped off in the direction the kitsune's scent was coming from. He met it in a wooded area, it was hangging upside down on the underside of a branch.

"Hi there! Supprised to see me?" it called down.

"I have no idea what you mean by that. Do I know you?"

"Why Kyuu, I'm wounded. I can't belive you don't recognize your own brother!" it said with fake hurt in its voice.

"Huh?" the kitsune snorted and leaped down from the tree, landing neatly infront of Kyuubi. It sat down, and waited for its appearance to click in Kyuubi's mind. It smirked when Kyuubi's eyes widened. "S-Shadow?! I... how... what?!"

"Don't strain yourself." cut in Shadow blandly. "I'll explain everything next time we meet. But in the mean time, do not let Naruto, or anyone else know that you saw me. As for evidence on how strong I am..." he smirked and leaped at Kyuubi, scoring claws across his torso and face, not to give him mortal wounds, but to give the evidence that Naruto asked for.

"Ouch! What was that for asshole?!"

"You wanted proof that I was stronger then your team could handle, and I gave it. Ja!" he said, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. No sooner had he disappeared, Daisuke, Chika, and Hayato appered beside him.

"Are you alright Kyuubi-sensei?" asked Chika in a worried voice.

"I'm fine." he grunted. "It was a kitsune that attacked, and I have a feeling that it is what we're looking for, but it was too fast, and got past my guard. Let's report back to Naruto, and get this mess straitened out."

----------With Naruto--------

"What the hell happened to you!?" screamed the blonde Hokage.

"Shut up will you and give me a chance to tell the story you impatient asshole!" shot back Kyuubi. Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself, and sat back down—he had gotten up, ready to strangle Kyuubi for getting him self wounded like that on such a simple mission. "Now then. It is a kitsune that we're looking for. It attacked me, and got past my guard with amazing speed, I couldn't fight it because it ran away. I think that we walked up on it and startled it." he said, stomping on Daisuke's foot when he opened his mouth to correct him.

Naruto looked at the nine-tails suspiciously, but didn't press him, telling him to go home and get some rest. Chika asked woridly about his wounds, but Kyuubi reassured her that he would be fine by morning. The team plodded out, and dispersed to go to their respective houses, while Naruto turned back to his mountain of paperwork. He groaned at the size of it.

"Looks like I'll have to be late for dinner again." he muttered.

-----------Back with Shadow--------

Shadow snickered when he heard Naruto complain. He knew just how the blonde felt as far as paper work, and decided to give the blonde a break. So, creating a kage bunshin, he henged it into a chunin ninja, and had it tell Naruto to leave with some phony excuse. When the blode was gone, he carefuly opened the window and slipped in. He padded up to the desk, and leaped into the chair. Henging into his human form, he cracked his knuckles and started to sign the papers in Naruto's name with practiced ease.

He was able to get all of the paper work signed by morning, and slipped back out of the window, closing it behind him.

Naruto walked in about an hour later. He looked at his... empty desk. Not a piece of paper was left. "What the hell?" he muttered in confusion. Then he noticed large pawprints on the window, and went to investigate. They looked like kitsune pawprints, but were bigger than a regular kitsune's. He also noticed that the window was unlocked, but he distinctly remembered locking it before he left. What ever or who ever it was, was an expert at infiltrating. But he was thankful to whoever signed his paper work, and smiled when he relized that that meant he would get the day off to spend with Atsuko and Hinata.

**© Leapingspirit**


	4. Chapter 3

The Kitsune's Eye 

Shadow meets Naruto again in this chappie.

I own nothing.

Chapter 3

Naruto shot up in his bed the next day to a loud howling and yowling. Hinata was already up, looking at the door as though she expected what ever it was to burst through it. They got up and proceeded to throw some clothes on. There was a knock on the front door that could be heard over the howling, and Naruto went to open it.

When he looked through the door, he saw a very tired and pissed looking Sasuke and Itachi glaring at him with the full effect of the Sharingan.

"Uh... can I help you?"

"Is Kyuubi constipated again or something?"

"Not that I know of."

"Well then, what is that noise?! We can hear it two streets over!" exclaimed Itachi.

"Naruto-kun! Come in here!" called Hinata from the direction of the kitchen.

"I think that Hinata-chan found the howler." said Naruto leading the Uchiha brothers into the kitchen. There was Atsuko pulling persistantly on the tail of a large black kitsune. Said kitsune was clutching at the door frame for dear life, howling and yowling. It scrabbled to get away, only to tear off some sheetrock on the wall to the side of the kitchen door. Atsuko gave a sharp tug, and the kitsune was pulled off of the door frame. Correction, the door frame was pulled off, the kitsune let go of that and grabbed the wall, howling the whole time.

Hinata meanwhile, was standing over to the side watching the whole thing, trying to hold back laughter. Atsuko finally gave up and let go of the kitsune's tail, only to have it shoot away and hide somewhere in the living room. Sasuke looked confused while Itachi seemed to be trying to remember something, and Naruto just looked lost. He went in the direction that the kitsune had run, and heard a whimpering coming from behind the couch. Then he heard a bit of laughter then a voice.

"You know, your kid has quite a bit of strength. He almost took my tail off." the kitsune's head poked up over the back of the couch, and it grinned at the blonde.

"Um, do I know you?"

"Ten years can do a lot to your memory, can't it kit?" replied the kitsune. "You should still remember me, I mean, didn't you belive that I wasn't dead, when I really was up until three days ago." it grinned at him again and climbed over the back of the couch and plopped down in the middle of it. Naruto walked up to it and gave it a good once over, he even tried to remember its scent by sniffing it. His eyes widened and he stepped back a couple of steps.

"S-S-Shadow? How did you... what...?" poor Naruto passed out then and there on the floor. Shadow just stared at him for a second, that is, until Hinata walked in and saw the blonde sprawled out on the floor, with a large black furred kitsune looking down at him with a confused look on his face.

"Well, didn't expect that reaction." said the fox demon. He then looked at Hinata and smiled. "Hi! Happy to see an old friend? Eh, have any idea on how to wake him up?" Hinata, who already knew that Shadow was alive and well, shook her head. "Is there any ramen in the vacinity?"

"Yes, let me see if I can get some fixed up."she replied. Shadow preceded to shake the blonde Hokage to try and wake him up. Hinata came back in a little bit later, and waved the ramed under Naruto's sensitve nose. That got him up fast. Naruto was up, slurping at the ramen hugrily.

"Looks like you still have that obsetion with ramen, eh kit?" asked the black fox. Naruto stared at him, then promptly chocked on his ramen. "Oh no you don't! You're not gonna faint on us again." he sighed and shook his head. "So, aren't you wondering how I'm alive or something like that?"

"Yes, I am. But first, lets get teme and Itachi in here so you don't have to explain three times." replied Naruto shakely. Hinata left to go into the kitchen and came back with Sasuke and Itachi trailing behind her. Sasuke stopped short when he saw Shadow, but Itachi kept walking. The elder Uchiha had suspected that the howling black kitsune from earlier had been Shadow, he just never placed it in the right place in his mind. "Back to what you were saying."

Shadow cleared his throught and started weaving the tale of his grand escape from the firey pit. Then he told about when Naruto attacked him, and when he helped Kyuubi catch Tora, and then when he took care of Naruto's paperwork. When he said that, he glared pointedly at the blonde hanyou, who looked sheepish, but didn't say anything. "So, any questions?" he said when he finished. He looked around the room, Sasuke and Naruto seemed to be trying to connect the dots, Itachi and Hinata looked like they had been told they were going to die in an hour and they had to do everything that they ever wanted to in that short time, Atsuko looked lost. "Uh, you guys ok?"

"So, how did you get in the house?" asked Naruto

"Your kid found me in the back yard and dragged me by the tail inside, that's why I was howling and yowling like a constipated Kyuubi." he deadpanned. Naruto nodded his head and smiled at Atsuko. "And how... never mind, I know the answer already."

"What?"

"Well, I was going to ask how you got so many tail in such a short amout of time, then I remembered that hanyous mature faster than full blooded demons."

"Yeah, Kyuubi explained that to me when I got two at one time." replied Naruto sheepishly.

"Speeking of whom, where is Kyuubi. I haven't seen him."

"He's still asleep. He can sleep through any thing."

"True, very true. Any way, since its still early, why don't you guys get back to bed, I won't keep ya." Naruto nodded and prodded Itachi—who had fallen asleep—awake, and walked with Hinata and Atsuko back to their rooms. Shadow bid the Uchiha brothers farewell, and curled up on the couch to get some long needed rest.

**© Leapingspirit**


	5. Chapter 4

The Kitsune's Eye 

Chapter 4

This chappie is dedicated to jgirl1984 who is a constant reader and reviewer of my Shadow and Naruto stories. Thanks! X3

I own nothing 'cept Shadow.

When Kyuubi woke later that morning, he felt a strange but familiar presence in the house. Rubbing his eyes as he entered the living room, he looked around for the owner of the chakra he sensed, but saw nothing. He let out a startled yell as something landed on his back, making him fall to the floor. Kyuubi rolled over, what ever was on his back moving onto his stomach. It took him a second for his tired brain to process that Shadow, his only brother—who was presumed dead until he met him in the woods the day before—sitting quite comfotably on him.

"Get off will you?" he grunted. Shadow complied and pranced into the kitchen. Kyuubi was skeptical. "Alright, who are you and what did you do with my brother?" Shadow peeked out the damaged doorway, smirking.

"Oh, I just lured him to a deserted alley way and killed him, disposing of his body somewhere in the middle of the forest. I am your brother you dolt! Now shut up and deal." the black fox rolled his eyes and padded out of the kitchen into the living room once again, sitting comfortably on a crimson colored arm chair.

Kyuubi chuckled and got a glass of water, settling down on the couch. "So, how did you get in here?" Shadow shuddered, flicking his still sore tail dismissivly.

"Naruto's brat decided to play tug of war, and my tail was the rope." he said with a snort.

"Ah, Atsuko got a hold of you did he? He did the same thing to me when he was four. He's seven now, and I can only emagine how much power he's gained by then. Years ago, he almost took my tail off, so, I can feel some sympathy."

_'Finaly! We have a name.' _thought the black kitsune. "I'm pretty sure that my tail has been dislocated permanently." he growled. Most multy tailed kitsune prefered to keep only one tail showing at a time, that way, no one is intimidated by them, or scared. That is what Shadow and Kyuubi did, as did Naruto and Hinata. Kyuubi shook his head in sympathy for his brother. "So, how's Cyrus been?"

"Oh, he has a daughter now, his mate died in childbirth. They live here too, though Cyrus is always busy with problems in the Kitsune Clan. Ever since your... er... death, things have gone down hill. Every one got so used to your leadership that when we announced that you were gone, the village was in turmoil. That is, until Cyrus took over for a while. He soon passed leadership onto Gatsu, and things have been a little better. But Gatsu constantly calls on Cyrus to help him with leadership and things like that." Gatsu was a pale crimson eleven tailed fox, trustworthy, and a natural leader. Though, Shadow was always wary around him, for an unknown reason.

"A daughter you say? Well, I can't wait to meet her. What about you? Have you gotten a girlfriend finaly or are you still single?" he asked with a glint in his blood red eyes.

"Erm... well, there was one girl that I liked, but she moved away. Enough of that, why did you ask me not to tell Naruto that you had come back yesterday?" Shadow flicked his tail, a look of indignaty on his face—meaning his jaw was jutted out to one side, an eyebrow raised, and an ear cocked.

"You know Naruto. He would have sent out a search party, or laughed in your face! Let's say that I wanted to avoid aformentioned acts." there were footsteps from hallway, and Shadow peered over the top of the chair to see his only son, Cyrus, with a small kit who's pelt was a complete reverse of his own—pale red on top and pale orange on bottom with red eyes instead green—on his back. When Cyrus looked up, his eyes met with his father's and he nearly fell over. He had not taken Shadow's untimely death well, so you can imagine his surprise when said fox was staring right at him.

"What... how..." Cyrus shook his head sharply and straightened up. "Dad, how in Kami's name are you still alive?" he asked padding to his father.

"Another story for another time." deadpanned the fox. He loved teasing his son, especialy when he got a childish pout out of it. Success. "Heh, I'll tell you later. Now, who is this lovely little lady?" _'Yeash, try saying that three times fast.' _

"This is Rai, my daughter. Rai, this is your grandfather, Shadow." the little kitling stared with huge eyes at the massive fox that was her grandpa.

"Gran'pa?" she asked innocently. Cyrus nodded, and Rai's eyes brightened up more than Naruto's used to when he was treated to ramen—not that they didn't now. She squealed—nearly busting everyone's eardrums—and exclaimed, "Gran'pa! You're home!" Shadow shot Cyrus a questioning look, and aformentioned fox mouthed: 'Its all I could tell her, live with it!' Snorting lightly, Shadow picked Rai up with his tail—making quite an effort might I add, his tail was still sore—and set her down next to him. The kitling then proceeded to clamber onto Shadow's back, yanking out a good amout of fur in the process, and making her newly discovered grandfater yelp in a way that you couldn't help but laugh at.

_'Is it me, or is the world bent on causing me pain? First the tourture in the firey pits of Hell, then Naruto attacks me, after that, that cat that just won't die, then Kyuubi and his team! Then after that I get attacked by a seven year old, nearly losing my tail, and now Cyrus's kid is yanking out my fur! My. Life. Sucks.' _Shadow raved mentaly.

While he was, er, reminicing, Rai had made it to his head, and was peering down at him, her head cocked to the side. Shadow raised his eyes to look back at her and smiled. Then, he was almost blinded by a flash of light, and glared at Kyuubi as he put down a camera—one of the instant ones—and showed him the picture. The black fox sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head a little. Cyrus meanwhile was rolling on the floor clutching his sides at his father's expression in the picture. It was an image of innocence that he thought Shadow incapable of. But he also though Sasuke incapable of yelling and ranting at his loudest tone, but he was promptly proven wrong on that one too.

"Alright that's enough! You had your laugh." rebuked the fox. Cyrus stuck his tounge out at his father, Shadow doing the same, and Kyuubi rolled his eyes at their antics.

"What's going on down here?" asked a tired voice. Everyone turned to see Naruto rubbing his eyes in the door way—Hinata has yet to wake up—staring at them questioningly. Kyuubi threw him the picture before Shadow could stop him, and the blonde couldn't help but laugh.

"Just meeting the family. And getting ready to pound Kyuubi into the ground then cut him into tiny pieces and feeding them to the griffens back home for humiliating me like that." Shadow replied sourly. Kitsune's prefer to keep griffens as pets.

"Come on, what about brotherly love?" Kyuubi asked nervously.

"You can take that brotherly love and..." he was going to say 'shove it up your ass!'

"Ehem. We have a young child in earshot." Cyrus interupted hotly. Naruto started laughing again, while Shadow and Kyuubi glared at each other.

_**There you go! Hope you enjoyed family time, because its gonna be gone for a while. Review!**_


	6. Chapter 5

The Kitsune's Eye 

Warning: There might be a bit of angst or something in this chappie! And a small ShadowHina moment, but don't worry, Hina-chan's not being unfaithful, its just a comfession about feelings that died down. Other than that, enjoy.

And I have a new writing style too! I'm going to give a full discription of Shadow in this one so you know exactly what you're dealing with.

I own nothing 'cept the Ocs.

Chapter 5

Shadow was dreaming... some may call it a dream, others may call it a nightmare. It depends of what side of the line your on to where your opinions point. To Shadow, this was a nightmare.

He was running endlesly through a forest that was darker than the darkest night, and thicker than a bramble bush. An evil laughter echoed around him, and his head snapped around, searching for the one laughing. He snarled as he ran through a thron bush, his nose being severly cut. Shadow skidded to a halt in front of a huge statue. It was the out come of the battle between him and Walkingdeath ten years ago, but twisted to where Walkingdeath came out the victor.

Turning around, the kitsune panted and ran back the way he came, only to meet a stone wall. Looking around franticly, he searched for a way out. There were no doors, gaps for him to slip through, or windows to jump out of.

Shadow felt something bubbling under his paws and looked down. He gasped and jumped a little when he saw blood surging around his large paws. Taking several steps back, he looked around again. Seeing a window several feet above him, the black kitsune took a mighty leap and flew through the window, plumiting to the ground far below.

"No... NOOOO!!!" he screamed as he fell, gaining speed with every passing second. He heard the evil laughter again, then the voices of his uncle, Darkness, and Walkingdeath and Runningtear echo around him—in that order.

"Ha ha ha, that's right..."

"This will be the out come..."

"If you continue as the blonde's..."

"Pet." they all finished together.

"I'm not his pet." he said chocking back a sob. "I'm his guardian, his friend. And there is nothing you can do to separate me from him and his family!" he howled and released a huge beam of light from his mouth, slowing his fall.

"What?!" the voices said at the same time. Shadow landed heavily on his paws and looked around for his evil kin. Seeing nothing, he roared and sprinted off.

Snapping out of his dream, Shadow sat bolt upright panting. Clutching his head in agony, the kitsune growled lowly. He had been with Naruto and his family in the Uzumaki compound for about a week now, and almost every night he had the same nightmare. Snarling, he leaped off the couch—Naruto had tried to convince him to take a guest room, but being the kind of kitsune he was, Shadow had bluntly refused—and sprinted into the back yard.

He was surprised to see Hinata already out there, gazing at the falling sakura blossums next to the bench that she was sitting on. Shaking his head to snap himself out of his stupor, the black kitsune padded softly over to her. He grinned when the bluenette's kitsune ears swivled in his direction. Heaving himself up to the open spot next to her, the kitsune muttered a greeting before gazing out over the back yard.

It was a truly beautiful sight. Sakura blossums fell gracefuly around them, and next to the bench was a small koi pond. Oposite it was an oak tree with a wooden two person swing chained to a large branch. The leaves of the oak tree fluttered in the light breeze, making a soft rustling sound.

"Beautiful... This is what I was doing last week before Atsuko dragged me inside." he whispered.

Hinata giggled and turned to him. "Yes, it is beautiful. Sometimes, Naruto-kun and I spend hours out here, just watching what's going on around us. Now and then we'll have a visit from Ino-chan, she lives down the street with Choji. They're getting married in two months."

"_Really?! _Damn, I missed a lot. What about Sakura?"

"She moved to Suna to be with Gaara. They got married two and a half years ago. Lee met a wolf-half-demon girl in the woods and fell in love with her last month. He has yet to ask her out." Hinata giggled again and placed a hand on Shadow's head, between his eyes. "I don't know why you insist on being in your fox form all the time. I've missed both sides of you."

"Well, I just feel more comfortable like this." he replied, grabbing Hinata's hand gently in his massive paws, and holding it gently before letting go. "Besides, I get a kick out of people screaming when I talk. Hmm, smells like Ino's coming." no sooner did the words leave his mouth did Ino's head pop up over the fence.

"Hi Hinata-chan! Who's this?" she said, hopping over the fence and crouching next to Hinata. Shadow hastily moved off the bench to alow her to sit down.

"Hi Ino-chan. How about you try and guess?" replied the bluenette.

"Okay!" she looked Shadow over carefuly. _'Hmmm. Black fur, long bushy tail, torn ear, scar on his right shoulder and a crescent moon shaped scar behind his left eye. Blood red eyes, pierced right ear and upper left lip, and gold bands around his front legs. He's curtious, looks kind enough, though I get a sneaking suspicion that he hates small, young kids. He can only be...' _"Shadow."

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Heh, you're the only one who hasn't spluttered or fainted." the kitsune said with a smile.

"What was Naruto's reaction?"

"He spluttered _and_ fainted." Shadow and Hinata said at the same time. Ino shook her head and sighed.

"Tipical Naruto. So, when did you return from the dead."

"What a wonderful way to say it." he muttered. Straighting up, the kitsune grinned, braced himself and said—while trying not to make his voice crack, "Last week."

"What?!! You've been among the living for a week and you didn't come to see any of your friends?!!" screamed the blonde.

"I've been busy catching up with my family." squeaked the fox, cowering under her glare. "I didn't even know where you lived." Ino's killing intent died down a little and she drew in a deep breath.

"Oh... Okay! Well, I gotta go! Ja Hinata-chan, Shadow-kun!" she leaped over the fence and back to her home.

"Is she PMSing?" Shadow asked, still nursing his bruised pride. Hinata nodded and giggled. "Hey, Hinata? Did you know that when you were twelve, Naruto wasn't the only one who had a crush on you?"

"Well, I know that Kiba-kun had a crush on me for a while."

"No, no. Besides him. When you were all genin, I had a crush on you. But, I knew that you would be Naruto's. Other than that, I still loved Sapphire. It was just a meeningless thing, and when Sasuke was turned into a cat, it had vanished."

Hinata was blushing a deep shade of red and she fidgeted a little. "W-Why did you h-have a crush on me?" she squeaked.

"Well, you were gentle, kind, pretty, strong in your own way. Not that you aren't now! Like I said, the crush died after a while." he laughed sheepishly and slumped onto his belly on the stone bench. "Ah, just drop it. The past is in the past." he muttered. His head snapped up when he heard a scared squeal coming from the front of the house and to the left. Leaping onto the roof, the black kitsune peered down to see a group of thugs surrounding a pink haired girl. It seemed that they were trying to do... things... to her. He plunged down, landing on one of the thugs and then headbutting another. The remaining two drew daggers and charged at the fox. Shadow's eyes started to glow and then changed completly. His iris turned white and his pupil changed to a blood red color. Surrounding the pupil were three red circles that looked like the symbol on the back of Naruto's orange jacket. The iris had 14 red horizontal lines in them.

This was the Kitsunegan—Kitsune's Eye. It had all the properties of the Sharingan and Byakugan, only it didn't have a blind spot. The Kitsunegan could also allow the user to sprout dragon wings, faze through walls, and do several double S-class level attacks. As well as breath fire without using chakra or yokai, shoot beams of blinding light from their mouths that were hotter than Hellfire, and inject their enemies with a strong paralizing—and in some cases killing—venom. It was truly the ultimate bloodline. Only kitsune's that had reached their tenth tail could use it, that is what made it rare.

Shadow leaped at the thugs and bit down on one's shoulder while battering at his chest and torso with his hind legs. The man screamed in agony as he felt poison course through his body. The other one charged at the black kitsune, only to be caught around the throught by Shadow's tail. Shadow constricted the man's neck until he passed out, the other one alredy unconscience from blood loss and pain.

Deactivating his bloodline, he turned back to the pink haired girl, only to see Haruno Sakura. She had come to Konoha on a vacation with Gaara—who had had to move back to Suna because he had been next in line to be Kazekage—and had been coming to visit Naruto and his family when these men cornered her and tried to do unspeakable things to her. She certainly hadn't been expecting to be saved by this strange fox who she recognized, but couldn't place a name.

"Yo. How'ya doin' Sakura?" he asked cheerfuly. He kicked one of the men in the head with his hind leg as he started to wake up.

"Who are you?"

"Wha'? You don't recognize me? I'm hurt. I can't beleave you don't recognize your old team mate." Sakura looked closer at the grinning kitusne and her eyes widened comicly.

"How in hell are you still alive?!" she screamed

"Long story short, I didn't like how Hell was, so I found a way out." the pinkette nodded and thanked Shadow for saving her. "So how's old raccoon eyes?"

Sakura scoffed at the nick name for her husband but smiled and said, "Fine. He's working on getting us a nice hotel room for our two week long stay here."

Shadow nodded and held up a paw, "Hold that thought." he heaved himself up to where he was peering over the fence. Sakura cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oi! Hinata! It's just Sakura. She was being molested by a bunch of thugs, but I knocked them out. Tell Naruto ne? That way Ibiki can have some fun tonight." she heard a muffled reply and a door open and close. Shadow dropped back down and grinned. "Now then, want to come inside?"

He led Sakura inside and into the kitchen. Standing on his hind legs with ease, he rummaged through the fridge for something to give her. She heard mutters of, 'ramen, ramen, ramen, old meat loaf, ramen.' until he pulled out a containter and opened it, slamming it closed again with a sour look on his face. "I think that one is living. Don't even want to know what it once was." he muttered.

Sakura giggled and sighed. She settled for ramen, amazed that the kitsune could stand and walk like that. Then she noticed that his paws had changed into furry hands and that he was now wearing old tattered blue jeans—Shadow had an anthro form to, that he could transform into with out anyone noticing until they actualy looked.

Sliding the bowl of steaming ramen down in front of her, he sat down in the chair oposite and stared out the window to the right of him. There was a wistful look in his blood red eyes and he inhailed and exhailed deeply. There was something on his mind, Sakura could tell. What it was was another story.

_**There's chappie 5! Hope you liked it. Review!**_


	7. Chapter 6

The Kitsune's Eye 

Warning: Mentions of lemon, swearing, and an irritable Shadow.

Ch 6

Shadow was abruptly snapped out of his light sleep by some very... errotic sounds coming from upstairs. Standing up on his hind legs and streatching, the black fox stomped up the stairs and to the source of the noise. Pounding on Naruto's door, he growled and waited impaitently for the blonde to answer. When the door opened, Shadow motioned for the blonde to step out and close the door. He didn't even notice that Naruto was stark naked.

"Do you mind putting up a sound barrier when ever you have sex? I'm sure you're giving Atsuko nightmares." he whipered in a very pissed tone. Naruto nodded and slipped back in his room, putting up a sound proof barrier that would let sound in but not out. "Great, now I need a cold shower." muttered the fox, stomping into the upstairs bathroom, transforming into his human form, stripping down to nothing, and stepping into the cold water, holding back a screech.

There was an aura around him that was pointing a knife and screaming 'HATE!!!' when he stepped out fully clothed. Trodding downstairs, the changed back into his fox form, and curled up on the couch.

----The Next Day----

The malice was still thick in the air when Naruto came down to the kitchen to get some breakfast before he went to his office to sign more paper work. He stopped with one foot in the air when he felt a glare on his back and spun around. Shadow was glaring at him, his formaly red eyes now taking the appearance of the Kitsunegan. It was apparent that the fox still hadn't forgiven him for waking him up that late, and wouldn't for a while.

"Uhh, hi?"

"Nice choice of words. Though, I would have said 'mommy' if I were you and knew what I was going to do to you. If you forget the sound barrier again, I will personaly rip your head off and throw it off the highest cliff I can find." he grit out. Shadow flicked his tail and snorted, turning away and scratching at an iritated spot on his neck.

"Kyuubi asked for you to meet with him and his team today. He wants to introduce his 'wonderful' brother to his 'wonderful' team. You might even get a mission to go on if you behave. Be at the Team 4 training grounds by... five minutes from now." Naruto said, changing the subject. Shadow snorted and poofed away, appearing in the forest on the edge of the Team 4 training grounds.

Kyuubi was already explaining his brother, and Shadow smirked as he thought of how to get them riled up. Creeping out of the bushes, he took a mighty leap and landed on Daisuke's back—again. Hayato and Chika took out kunai, but stopped short when Shadow took out a dagger and held it a Daisuke's neck, growling at them, daring them to attack. Daisuke grunted at the kitsune's weight, and tried to shift around to try and throw the fox off of him.

"You again." he grunted. "I thought you ran away with your tail between your legs like a good mutt."

"Not really." Shadow replied. "And don't insult my pride. Oh, and call me a mutt again, and I'll skin you alive." he started to kick the boy repeatedly in the head with his back leg, a smirk on his face.

"Shadow, get off the poor boy before you make what's left of his brain turn to mush." doing as his brother said, the fox did a front flip off of Daisuke, landing next to Kyuubi. "And could you act your age? You're older than I am for peat's sake."

"Aw, but where's the fun of acting like an old grouch? I enjoy tormenting idiotic morons without minds. Especialy this kid. He's quite entertaining." Shadow said, laughing slightly. Daisuke growled and threw several shuriken at the fox, who nimbly twisted out of the way. "Tsk, tsk. Didn't they teach you how to properly handle shuriken in the acadamy? _This_ is how you do it." he blured out of sight and reappeared soon after holding the kunai that Daisuke had thrown before. With a flick of his wrist, the genin was pinned to a log, unable to move.

_'What's with this fox?' _Hayato thought. He watched as Shadow threw the dagger he had been holding earlier, pinning it right between Daisuke's legs, making the genin yelp. He had dreams of having kids one day, and he really didn't want to loose that chance.

Kyuubi cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, this is my older brother, Shadow. Shadow, this is my team. Daisuke, Chika, and Hayato." everyone gaped at the nine-tails and then turned to ogle at Shadow.

"What? Its not my fault he hasn't told you yet." the black kitsune said with an innocent gleam in his eyes. He turned to glare at Kyuubi, giving him a nudge. "Go on, they'll never fogive you if you don't until its too late." he muttered to his brother, pushing him forward. The rhino sized fox smirked at the horrified look on Kyuubi's face, and sat down to wait for said crimson kitsune to weave a story about his true identity.

And so, Kyuubi explained that he was infact the nine-tailed kitsune who attacked Konoha twenty-three years ago, helping save the village after words several times along with Naruto. When he finished, his team's jaws were knocking their knees, and their eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Told you." Shadow deadpanned. Kyuubi glared at him, and turned back to his team.

"I understand if you want another sensei after this. I don't blame you." Hayato was the first one to recover concidering his pride and normaly stoicness.

"_I _don't want another sensei. Besides, my father already said that his team mate's best friend had a relation to you. He didn't say which team mate though."

"Probaly Sasuke." Shadow said. "He's best friends with Naruto-baka... er, your Hokage."

"You call Hokage-sama Naruto-baka?" Chika asked.

"Among other things like... um... let's see, oh! Dumbass, stupid, asshole, idiot... the list is endless. Kyuubi here and Sasuke do the same thing. The moron prefers all that over Hokage-sama and all that other formal shit." the fox replied, waving his paw dismissivly. The genin stared at the kitsune with huge eyes, not beliving that this fox would degrade their Hokage like that. "Besides, I've known Naruto since he was twelve. He doesn't care what I call him really."

"As long as you don't call him 'Spiral Fishcake-sama' like you did that one time. You lost half of your pelt that day." Kyuubi said, trying to hold back a snort of laughter at Shadow's expression. He could have sworn the older fox was blushing.

"True. But you can't deny what's true. That _is _what his name means." Kyuubi couldn't hold it in any more, he burst into a fit of laughter at his brother's expense. Shadow just sat there with a look of indignity on his face.

_**There you go! Sorry its so short, the next chappie will be up fast, I promise.**_


	8. Chapter 7

The Kitsune's Eye 

I own nothing 'cept the Ocs and this plot.

Chapter 7

When Kyuubi regained his composure, he announced that they had a mission to go on. Daisuke of course started ranting about rescuing princesses, or assassinating a tyrant or something along that line, and Chika or course hit him in the back of the head, yelling at him to shut up. Kyuubi just sighed and explained the mission, and that Shadow was going with them, earning a protest from the kunoichi about getting fleas in her hair and sleeping bag. Shadow fumed at this and growled threateningly at the girl, daring her to say that again. Said girl squeaked and attempted to hide behind Hayato, who shoved her, making her fall flat on her ass.

Anyway, Kyuubi said that the mission was a C-rank, and that they were delivering a scroll to a village near the border with the former Rice Country—now it was just a deserted and barren wasteland after Orochimaru moved in and was killed later on. They were protecting it from bandits and other ninja who wanted to get their hands on the scroll for their own use.

"So, any questions?" the nine-tails asked

"Yeah... why is your brother coming with us?" Hayato asked, a scowl of disapproval on his face.

"Because I have nothing else to do, and if I had stayed at the house, Naruto would have dragged me to his office and forced me to sign half of his paper work like he had four times already. I swear, I have carpal tunnel in my left paw from all that writing." the black fox replied. "Besides, if worse comes to worse, and the scroll is somehow stolen, I'll be able to track down the thieves and steal the scroll back, and they'll be none the wiser. And, my sense of smell and direction is twice as good as Kyuu's, so you won't have to worry about getting lost." Shadow shuddered inwardly as he remembered the last time Kyuubi got them lost.

_Flashback..._

_"Kyuubi you jackass! We're lost!" the black fox roared. "I **told** you to use the map."_

_"Hey, to me, maps are useless." the younger fox protested, sniffing delicately. "Besides, we can back-track."_

_"Backtrack?! We've been using branches to travel! It'll take **hours** to find the scent trail! You're lucky that I decided to come with you." Shadow snorted, and stopped jumping from branch to branch, looking up at the sun. 'Let's see... the sun is just beyond it's peak, so north is that way. And we need to go north-north-east by north-west, so its... that way!' the fox though, calculating how far off course they were. Fifty miles. Joy._

_"Well?" Shadow sighed and started backtracking, going south-south-west by south-east for fifty miles, then turning back to the correct path._

_End Flashback..._

While Shadow had been remembering the... odd times he had shared with his brother, they had set off for their respective houses, getting weapons and extra clothes. Shadow himself decided to leave Black Kitsune Thunder at home, taking his red daggers—strapping them to a back leg each—some extra kunai, and shuriken. Pulling on the crimson collar around his neck, he slipped into a thick vest that would protect him from any fire and lightning jutsu—it was dark gray with a flame design starting from the back left corner and wrapping around his body up to the navy blue collar that was covered up by the collar that he was already wearing—and tightened the Konoha head band around his left front leg. Naruto had given him one, saying that he deserved it and should consider joining the Animal ANBU—a special group of elite nin-animals that went on missions just like humans did—and the fox had said that he would think about it.

He disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared at the north gates. Being the first one there, he decided to take a small nap, at least until the others got there. Kyuubi was the second one there, soon followed by Hayato and Daisuke. They waited for ten minutes for Chika, and were just about ready to leave without her, when she came running up with a huge bag on her back.

"You do realize that you won't need all that make-up. Its just a simple mission, and its not like you'll need to impress anyone." Shadow deadpanned, shaking his head, the gold piercing on his ear catching the light from the sun and creating a golden flash.

"Shut up fox!" she snapped, "And you're one to talk. You're wearing a collar, you have a lip and ear piercing, and a vest and daggers. I suppose you're trying to pull that punk look for some girl."

"No..." he growled, his eyes glowing with hate, "This is how I always look. So why don't you take your pride and make up and shove it. Chunk the make-up or I burn the pack off your ugly back. You only need food, clothing, weapons, and a tent and sleeping bag." Chika fumed at being called ugly, but took all the make-up out of her back pack—that was basically all she packed—and grumbled something about 'stupid foxes and their authority.'

Kitsune's had a lot of authority in Konoha because they had the former King of Kitsunes, his brother, and their Hokage was a kitsune hanyou. There were also a lot of nin-foxes in Konoha, such as Shadow and Kyuubi—of course—and other kitsunes.

Hayato smirked and mentally thanked Shadow for shutting Chika up—he was beginning to like this fox, who wasn't afraid to speak up and talk down to others. True, he had a punkish look to him—as well as attitude—but if you looked past that, he was a big joker, and a softie at that. He had a soft spot for children, but couldn't stand babies or whiny fangirls—coughChikacough—and clingy people.

Daisuke meanwhile scowled at the fox for insulting that object of his affection. He didn't say anything—there was no way he was going to considering what he had heard about the kitsune from legends—but the look on his face spoke volumes. He despised the fox for a) demolishing his pride, b) insulting him, c) insulting Chika, and d) being a prick with the attitude of Hayato plus Kyuubi. The fox was a bit of an ass in his opinion, but he would look around that for the sake of his team.

Anyway, they set out for the village—it would be a week long journey—Chika still grumbling, and Shadow still smirking at his victory over the fangirl. Daisuke noticed that there were storm clouds over head, but did say anything about them. Shadow however noticed something strange about them. There was a demonic aura surrounding the dark clouds, and the fox narrowed his eyes. He stiffened when he sensed a spike in the chakra, and his hackles rose.

"Get down!" he bellowed. No sooner did he say that did a bolt of lightning flash over head where their heads would have been. "Damn... a Rai-neko." he growled.

"A what?" Hayato demanded.

"A Rai-neko. Huge yellow demonic cats with black stripes and a mane like a lion. They control lightning and thunder... extremely dangerous they are. And unfortunately, this vest can't protect me from demonic lightning. We need to get somewhere sheltered... like a cave or something." Kyuubi nodded and they started to creep into the woods, the crimson kitsune knew where a small cave was in this forest, and it wasn't that far from a small village. They could take shelter there until the Rai-neko got bored and moved on. "Heh, the good thing about those fuzz balls is that they can't leave the clouds unless they're in the demon realm."

They huddled together in the cave, as far from the entrance as they could get, watching the clouds warily. Chika started moaning about how her clothes got dirty and scuffed, trying to get Hayato to pity her and failing miserably. The poor boy was just about ready to rip his own hair out—he has red-brown hair—and bash his head against the cave walls repeatedly. Shadow could see the suffering in his dark gray eyes and smirked as he thought of a way to get her attention off of Hayato—problem is, her attention would then be directed at him.

"Well, seeing as a Rai-neko doesn't get bored quickly, and that this cave is excessively small, I'd say that life would be easier if I was smaller." he said. He transformed into a thirteen year old version of his human form, which was even cuter than Sasuke and Hayato put together, and that's saying something. Chika squealed and attached herself to the kitsune, much to his displeasure and Hayato's pleasure. You could see the annoyance in Shadow's blood red eyes as the brunette clung to him, her green eyes shinning. Daisuke meanwhile was boiling over with annoyance, his teal eyes narrowed and his dark brown hair ruffled. Shadow grunted and pryed the girl off of him, but she just reattatched herself to him. "You have three seconds to let go or you're going to be the Rai-neko's lunch." he growled, a huge scowl on his face.

Chika whimpered and backed up, sitting quietly—for once—against the cave wall. Everyone except Shadow flinched when thunder roared overhead and lightning flashed infront of the cave's entrance. Sighing, the fox stood up and stretched, his legs and back giving out several loud cracks that echoed around the cave, making Daisuke and Chika gulp. Creeping to the entrance of the cave, he peered out and tried to pinpoint exactly where the Rai-neko was. Smirking, the thirteen-year-old-looking fox drew one of his red daggers and aimed carefuly. The second the next flash of lightning exited the clouds, he threw the dagger with enough force to cut through a mountain on solid diamond. There was a screech and a pained yowl as the dagger hit its target, and the Rai-neko fell from the clouds to the ground.

Walking up to it, the fox's smirk widened, almost splitting his face, as he recognized the Rai-neko. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Rai tsubasa (lightning wing). I didn't expect to see you here old friend." the cat grunted and stood up. Shadow yanked his dagger out of the cat's side, making him hiss in pain.

"Didn't expect to see you here Kagemaru-san (shadow circle). And in your thirteen-year-old form too." Tsubasa—that's what everyone calls him—grunted as he felt his power being sapped. He was one of the only Rai-nekos that could leave the clouds for a short period of time in the human realm.

"How many times have I told you to call me Shadow?"

"At least once more Kagemaru-san."

"And what are you doing here Tsubasa? Trying to stir up trouble again?" the cat shook his head, trying to concerve his streangth. Shadow sighed and shook his head. "Well, let me get you back to the demon realm at least." he gathered chakra into his claws and slashed the air, creating a portal back to the demon realm. Tsubasa thanked Shadow and leaped through the portal, said portal disappearing an instant later.

"Was that Rai-tsubasa?" Kyuubi called from the cave.

"Yup!" Shadow replied, changing back into his fox form and waiting for the others to gather up the courage to come out of the cave. Once said act was done, they set out for the village that they needed to drop the scroll at. Shadow noticed something shinning in the sky, and it was falling right for them. "Hmmm." taking a great bounding leap, the fox jumped up to where the shinning thing was and caught it in his mouth, coming back down and landing softly. Spitting it out, he was surprised when he saw that it was a lightning orb.

Lighting orbs were some of the rarest jewels in any of the realms, and they are near impossible to find. Those who possesed it could control lighting to a limited extent—not quite as much as a Rai-neko but enough to take out an army of at least two thousand in one shot. Shadow smiled a soft smile when he relized that that was why Tsubasa was here. They had made a promise when they were kids that when ever one found a lightning orb or a fire crystal they would give it to the other. Shadow had already found a fire crystal—a very powerful crystal that alowed the user to control fire to a limited extent—and had given it to Tsubasa. The cat had streanghthened his promise, saying that he would find a lightning orb if it killed him.

Carefuly placing the orb into a pouch in his vest, the kitsune ran to catch up with everyone else, acting like nothing had happened, though Kyuubi could tell by the smile that his brother was wearing that something had indeed happened.

_**There's chappie 7! In the next one, Naruto gets his blood line and Shadow has some explaining to do. Review!**_


	9. Chapter 8

The Kitsune's Eye 

I own nothing 'cept the Ocs and this plot

Chapter 8

The rest of the mission was uneventful to say the least. Everyone was quite, even Daisuke, and not a single leaf or blade of grass moved as the shinobi and fox walked swiftly down the trail. In fact, the only sound that was made was the 'tak tak tak' of Kyuubi's and the genin's feet and the swishing of Shadow's fur as the wind blew harshly.

Upon reaching home, Shadow followed Kyuubi to Naruto's office, nearly getting his neck snapped by the suddenly irritable Hokage. Said Hokage had thrown a lamp at the door and it had hit dead center in the middle of Shadow's head. Aforementioned fox sat down heavily and started to rub the growing bump on his head.

"What's wrong with you?" Kyuubi asked.

"My back hurts, my head hurts, my EVERYTHING hurts!" Naruto bellowed. "And all I've done the past week is sign paper work and sit at home spending time with my wife and kid."

"Wait. Did you say your back hurts?" Shadow asked, still rubbing his head.

"Well, not my back per se, more like my shoulders."

"And what about your head?"

"More like my eyes. W-Why do you care?" he demanded skeptically.

"Hmm, I think... you may be getting your blood line in. I remember how painful it was when I got mine, and have a feeling that it will be worse for you." Shadow said, a sweat drop on the back of his head when he also remembered how irritable he had gotten at the time. Considering Naruto and his temper, he'd say that he would basically have to chain the Hokage to his chair to stop him from going after every person who came through his door with gusto. The sweat drop grew bigger when he heard Naruto start growling at him. _'Better make that __**reinforced**__ chains.'_

"And why didn't you say anything before?" the blond growled. Kyuubi smartly moved to the other side of the room... or at least tried to. Shadow grabbed his pants and yanked him back to use him as a living shield from Naruto's anger.

"I, uh, didn't think of it at the time... heh heh... yeah, I'm going to start running now."

"Good idea." Naruto growled, his golden ears flattening against his head. Let's just say that the only thing left of Shadow was a dust trail he disappeared so fast. And... did I mention that he was screaming—in a very girly voice for someone who's voice was a deeper baritone than a tuba on low 'E'--for help. Yeah, something along the lines of "_**HELP!!!**_ THE HOKAGE'S GOING TO RAPE _**MEEEE!!!!**_" or something...heh, heh... yeah. There goes the rest of Shadow's pride, if he ever had any to begin with.

As soon as Naruto go his hands on Shadow, saying that he tied the fox in a knot would be an understatement. Big time. Oh no, he tied Shadow in a knot _**and**_ stuffed him in a half full barrel of some alcoholic drink, rolled him down a hill into a river that carried him down stream, over a water fall and back to the village after which, the fox got a beating that not even Kyuubi and Sapphire on a sugar high and rampage with raging hormones could dish out.

The only thing other than breathing that Shadow could do when Naruto's anger was spent was moan in agony and hiccup from the amount of alcohol he had managed to swallow on his down the hill and river. And they say that _he_ was scary when he was mad. That was just insane! Kyuubi was left with the wonderful task of undoing the living pretzel and bringing Shadow home.

It didn't take long for the fox to recover, only a couple hours, but he was still half drunk, so they would have to wait until the alcohol was filtered out of his system, which would take another couple of hours. Then they had to talk quietly because Shadow with a hangover...? Not pretty.

Anyway... Shadow was untipsy enough, Naruto quietly asked what he meant by a 'bloodline.' So, Shadow explained the Kitsunegan and all of its properties. Naruto being Naruto though that it was awesome and realized too late that he had to be quiet. Shadow took this as an excuse to get his revenge. This time, he tied Naruto in a knot and stuffed him in the toilet and flushed it repeatedly, making the blond get excessively dizzy. The black fox did, though, have enough courtesy to not stuff the blond in head first.

Hinata had to take Atsuko in the other room to shield his 'innocent' mind and ears from the violence, both in physical damage and verbal abuse. Namely Shadow's ranting and swearing, as well as his tying Atsuko's father in a knot and making him extremely dizzy. And, once again, Kyuubi was left with the job of untieing the human pretzle. Joy.

When the comotion had settled to low simmer, one could find Shadow curled up comfortably on the couch with ear plugs in his ears. That didn't meen that he couldn't hear some of what they were saying, so they stayed as quiet as they could because a) Shadow still had a hangover and b) he wasn't a morning person, so it wouldn't be smart to wake the fox up. Period.

Basicly, Naruto was in for a rough... er... how ever long it took for him to activate the Kitsunegan. Whether it was hours or years, the pain that he was going through wouldn't subside one fraction of a decimal. He would just have to keep trucking until he finaly activated it, THEN, learn to control and use it properly, which was something that Shadow would have to teach himself. And the black kitsune was not good at teaching. He had no patience and couldn't handle all the questions and yada, yada, yadaing that was going on around him. The kitsune just couldn't, hell, he could barely handle Cyrus when he was a kit, so you can emagine the amount of suffering he was going to go through.

_**There's chappie 8! I think that there will only be like 12 or something because, I have until Friday to get this done or my friends at school are going to personaly make sure that I'm breathing through a tube the rest of my life. Review! Ja!**_


	10. Chapter 9

The Kitsune's Eye 

I own nothing 'cept the Ocs and this plot.

Chapter 9

All Shadow could think at this particular moment was: _'Why me?'_ Naruto had managed to activate the Kitsunegan and now, the black fox had to figure out a way to get the blond to shut up for a grand total of five minutes and listen... that and hold still long enough to see anything that the kitsune had to show him. Unfourtunatly, the Kitsunegan could only be used when one was in his or her demon form, so... lets just say that Shadow was in for a wild time.

Infact, he had already placed an order for reinforced chains and pills that were supposed to help one focas on what the other was saying. He was just praying that they would work... the chains that is... though, he had little faith in the pills as well. Now he had to wait the 'two to four work days' as the overly cheery lady over the phone said for them to arrive. Until then, regular chains would have to suffice.

All Shadow had to do now was plan his own funeral. A second funeral that is, and he was not looking forward to it at all.

Plugging his ears and trying to block out Naruto's excessive chatter, the fox bit back a snarl as his head throbbed in one of the many places that the blond had hit him. Poor Shadow was just about ready to go back to the gorge in the demon relm and fling himself off of it again. This time, he wouldn't come back, deepest pits of Hell or not.

Just as Naruto was about to ask another pointless question, Shadow started to growl in a low, threatening tone, his red eyes practicly glowing with annoyance. The blond shrunk back and laughed nervosly, his golden ears folded back.

"Now that you're quiet." the black fox gritted out, "Let me explain how to use the Kitsunegan." and that started a long speech that Shadow could have sworn Naruto only half heard. In fact, the blond looked like he was ready to fall asleep, and the black fox couldn't blame him. He was in the same situation when Fear, his father, had explained it to him. Only, Shadow had actualy fallen asleep, earning a smack on his head from his father and mother, Heather-eyes.

Once he finished, Naruto was suporting his head with his hand and his eye lids were drooping over his bright blue eyes. Snickering, the fox thought up a way to scare Naruto out of his pants. Pop. Quiz! So, the fox started dishing out questions, about ¾ of which Naruto missed.

"I give you... 40 percent. That was pathetic, even for you." the fox comented. "Here's a book that has the basic properties of the Kitsunegan. Read it, learn it, love it. I'll come in tomorrow to see what you know." he said, slamming down a huge, and man, do I mean _**huge**_, book infront of the horrified blond. Trotting out of the room, Shadow just barely managed to hold back a laugh until he reached the front door of the Uzumaki complex, then, he lost it, laughing all the way to Ichiraku, where he was meeting Kyuubi for lunch.

"So? How did he do?" he asked a hystarical Shadow.

"Not very well, even for him. Signing all that paper work tends to sap your know-how until you're an empty eyed zombie with a pen in hand." the black kitsune remarked, managing to hold back another fit of laughter. Their ramen was placed infront of them, making Shadow make a face. "I swear. The brat rubbed off on you in the how ever many years it was you were sealed in him." he growled in disgust. Kyuubi just laughed and slurrped his ramen up, while Shadow picked slowly at his, as though he thought it would come alive and attack him. The black fox wouldn't be surprised if it actualy did.

He smirked when Kyuubi nearly fell out of his chair when an ANBU in a cat mask poofed behind them. "Hey Sasuke." he said, slidding his half empty bowl infront of his brother.

"Yo. What're you doing here? I thought you hated ramen." the raven commented, taking his mask off.

"I do." Shadow deadpanned. "Mister 'I got sealed twenty times in my very short but at the same time too long for his poor brother's sake' over here won a bet that allowed one of us to choose where we eat for the next month."

"What did you bet on?" he heard Shadow grumble something inchoharent. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he said with a smirk. If it was something to get Shadow this ruffled, it must be either very good, or very stupid.

"Which ever one of us could go the longest with out swearing or using any other form of profanity. I lost with in ten damn minutes. And of course he has to pick the one place where I can't eat anything that I like, other than rice balls, but those aren't very filling to me."

"And don't forget Shadow, you have to finish a whole plate." Kyuubi remarked, slidding the bowl back in front of the black fox, much to said fox's displeasure.

"Kyuubi! For the sake of me!" he protested.

"Sorry bro. There's no getting out of this deal." the nine-tails said with a large smirk.

"Some deal. You god damned knew that I couldn't go very long without swearing, cursing, or using profaninty."

"Ah... but I never said that you couldn't swear in different languages."

"You... YOU BASTARD!!!" Shadow snarled, lunging at Kyuubi, making them disappear in a cloud of dust, random limbs and heads appearing now and then before Shadow gave a mighty heave and flung the crimson kitsune across the street and through a wall into someone else's kitchen, making the people there scream and run. But Shadow wasn't done there. Oh no. He leaped at his brother and started to claw and bite at various parts of the other fox's body, before taking out one of his daggers and trying to make sure that Kyuubi never had kids.

Sasuke being the honorable person that he is—who had also just sat back and watched up until now—decided that enough was enough. He grabbed Shadow's scruff and wrenched him off of Kyuubi, not even a second before the dagger met its mark. The raven began to drag the black kitsune to Naruto's place, leaving inch deep rutts from said fox's claws in the ground as he tried to get back over to Kyuubi to finish his 'job.' And he was winning, crawling slowly back to his brother so he could remove his reason for being called a man.

"Aw hell." Sasuke muttered, before whistling high and long. Several other ANBU, Lee and Kiba among them appeared next to him and started to tug at Shadow's legs and tail to force him away from Kyuubi. The only thing that they did was make him stop moving, though Shadow was still clawing at the ground.

"What the hell made him this mad?!" Kiba huffed out, yanking on the fox's tail persistantly.

"Kyuubi-san said something unyouthful didn't he?!" Lee demanded. Sasuke could only nodd and continue pulling. They finaly managed to start the slow process of dragging the fox home—taking a grand total of four hours for the otherwise five minutes trip. So, you can kind of say that Kyuubi would have to go into hiding for a week or so... like he had to do several time before now, and avoid Shadow for about a month.

_**So? Sorry it took so long. I got grounded because I got an unusualy low grade on my progress report last week and couldn't get on the computer before today. Reveiw! Ja!**_


	11. Chapter 10

The Kitsune's Eye 

Sorry it took so long to update! I own nothing 'cept the Ocs and this plot.

This is the last chappie in this story, so be sure to read Shadow Of the Future after wards.

Chapter 10

The next morning, Shadow woke up, tied to a metal table, with very thick ropes, and gagged with a dirty gym sock. Raising an eyebrow, he glanced around and snorted when he saw Ibiki standing over to one side. Using his tongue to get the sock out of his mouth, the black fox made a face at the after taste that it left behind. Ibiki smirked and walked casually over to him.

"How many times have we gone over this Shadow?" the black clad jonin asked.

"Uhh... ten?"

"Twenty." Ibiki corrected. Shadow nodded and grinned, trying to look innocent, and failing miserably. "What did Kyuubi do this time?" this launched Shadow into an explanation—aka rant—of his and Kyuubi's actions, but mainly his. "So you tried to castrate him over that?"

"Yup! Now can you untie me? I need to be somewhere." Shadow growled. Ibiki rolled his eyes and undid the intricate knots that held the fox down. As soon as the last one was undone, Shadow blurred out of sight and a girly screech split the air outside the building followed by a long rant coming from the black fox containing a large amount of profanity that made the mothers in the village cover their children's ears.

Now, if you're thinking that this will follow with a huge amount of drama and action, you are sorely mistaken. There is no reason for that to happen, for Shadow has no enemies left to fight, and no affairs to manage seeing as he is no longer leader of the Kitsune Clan, and every thing is peaceful in Konoha, so I apologize in advance for those of you that were expecting a lot of action, adventure, etc. Back to the story...

When Shadow returned home, Kyuubi was covered in bruises, scrapes, cuts, gashes, and other various injuries. The black fox seemed satisfied with his handy work and was wearing a huge grin on his face. Kyuubi meanwhile moaned in agony and staggered to his room, barely dodging a rock that was thrown at him by Shadow.

Naruto came into the room and sighed when he saw the trail of dust with a little blood in it following Kyuubi and guessed that Shadow had finally gotten a hold of him. _'About time.' _he thought. He had been wondering when this would happen, but he had made Shadow agree that he would clean up after himself if he made a mess of the village... again.

Last time, it had almost been worse than when Kyuubi attacked under a genjutsu 23 years ago and had taken forever to fix. The only difference was that no one died or was seriously injured.

"Clean this up." the blond said.

"Hey, I didn't do that. Kyuubi's the one trailing dust and blood, not me. And nothing was broken or bashed other than the dumb ass either, so no work for me." Shadow retorted, a stubborn look on his furred face. Naruto stuck his tongue out at the fox's logic and Shadow copied his actions, grinning and trotting into the kitchen.

Naruto could hear him riffling through the fridge before he was almost made deaf by a fan girlish scream from outside. Then, Sasuke and Itachi shot through the half open door, a fanclub almost following them, but they slammed the door shut first, locking it.

The blond sighed. _'If this becomes their shelter from the Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha fanclubs, there will be nothing left of this complex when the girls get done with it.' _he thought skeptically.

"Too close." Sasuke muttered.

"Tell me again why you always come here?" Naruto asked.

"Its the only place where the owner won't throw us out for trespassing or breaking an entry. Besides, you know all the best places to hide in here considering that you're the target of everyone else's rage constantly."

Naruto twitched at this and was about to say something, but was interrupted by a screech from outside followed by a roar that made the windows shake and what sounded like a stampede. The door was kicked in and a black dragon with a red belly trotted in before shrinking back into Shadow.

"You owe me." the fox said, glaring at the Uchiha brothers. They blinked at Shadow's strange display and the fox sighed. "I already explained the properties of the Kitsunegan, and I won't do it again." he growled, his left eye developing a twitch.

Sasuke and Itachi took this as a huge sign that they should beat it or get beaten into the ground, so they amscrayed out of there as fast as they could. Shadow snorted and looked at the clock, his eye brows widening when he saw that it read 10:30 at night. It didn't seem like that, and he hadn't expected the fanclubs to be out at this time of night, but the world is full of surprises isn't it.

He Naruto good night and scrambled onto the couch, falling into a deep sleep. Naruto meanwhile grinned and looked out the window, remembering all the adventures that he had shared with the fox, and wondering what the future might hold... for him, and for Shadow. Naruto's grin turned to a scowl when he remembered a line from an ancient script he had found in the Kitsune Clan library.

_A dog may be stupid enough to return to its home and owner, but a fox has a free spirit and only returns home when he or she is attached to someone. A kitsune however, is a loner, never staying in one place or with one person for long. If a kitsune goes soft and sides with a human, he or she is to be outcast, no matter his or her rank._

_-The Book of Ages_

Shadow, had changed all that, and had broken all the rules. He planned to stay with his friends and family for as long as time allowed, and would never abandon those in need. Naruto could tell that the fox didn't like staying in one place for too long, but the black kitusne's loyalty always out weighed his instincts. The blond could tell that he would be Shadow's friend for a long time to come.

_**Yahoo!! I'm finally finished. Sorry if it wasn't what you expected... and on another note... I JUST WAISTED YOUR TIME!!! HAHAHAHAAA!!!!Cough, cough... any way. Please rate and review. Ja!**_


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